Northern Bay College students lend a hand

A group of year 9 students from Northern Bay College have been doing some fantastic environmental work throughout term one with Great Ocean Road Coast Committee’s Coast Guardians program.

The year 9 students have been working closely with Great Ocean Road Coast’s Hilary Bouma, Education Coordinator of the Coast Guardians program, doing a variety of activities in their adopted area of Spring Creek, Torquay.

Coast Guardians is the Great Ocean Road Coast’s flagship environmental education program, tailored towards year 9 students protecting the coast. It is an ongoing program through which schools participate throughout the year on one particular site to help foster ownership and enhance their understanding of the location.

With the assistance of the conservation team, the students have been learning about different types of invasive weeds. The group helped to clear Creeping Groundsel and Italian Buckthorn, both of which are invasive weeds along the coast. Their hard work resulted in four full truck-loads of weeds! A great help to the conservation efforts on the coast.

On one particular outing, the group spent time looking at the inter-tidal area at Rocky Point, and learned about the adverse impacts of marine debris. During another session the students learnt about the importance of the threatened Moonah woodlands at Spring Creek whilst collecting rubbish and doing lots of weeding.

To help keep the group’s concentration and energy levels up Great Ocean Road Coast supplied lunch from Yummy Tummy Cafe in Torquay. Thank you to Katie and the team who made delicious rolls each week.

Hilary commended the teenagers on their hard work and enthusiasm, saying that their persistence in overcoming personal challenges and good work ethic had paid off.

By taking the classroom outside and immersing young people in nature, the Coast Guardians program hopes to foster a love for the coast and an appreciation of our natural environment.

Find out more about Great Ocean Road Coast’s free environmental programs here.